The Stroop test
Color names appear, printed in ink of a different color. Click on the color of the ink as fast as you can.
The experiment starts as soon as the page has loaded (JavaScript is required).
Try the experiment: your result will appear here, next to what most people do.
What just happened (read it after the experiment)
What most people do: Most adults take 50 to 150 milliseconds longer when the word and the ink contradict each other.
When the word and the ink contradict each other, you answer more slowly, and you make more mistakes. Reading is so automatic that it takes over, even when it gets in the way.
John Ridley Stroop described this effect in 1935. It has become one of the most widely used tests in psychology, to measure attention and self-control.
An adult who can read can no longer see a word without reading it.
More experiments
Sources
- John Ridley Stroop, “Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions,” Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1935.